I could make a nitrous oxide joke here but I'm just too humiliated!

Brian

I LOVE my 3d gasses!

Brian.

My guess for the radiant would be somewhere near cassiopeia , but a sample of 5 hardly nails it.

I've been out nights since and seen nothing like it.

It just seems to much to be a coincidence, but I know that it could be just that.

Hello from Dubuque, Iowa USA.

Last night at about midnight (sept 7 to 8 2010) I was walking my dog for about a quarter hour. As a space enthusiast I would occasionally look up - and I saw 5 bright meteors over a 15 min. period. I walk the dog every night at this time so I knew that this was way more than average.

The next day I was listening to a radio station from Illinois and a caller said he saw a similar thing from southern Illinois.

I have checked some web sites about meteors and they don't seem to reveal any great show at this time of year so I wonder........

Was the passage of 2 asteroids (210RX30 and 210RF12) past earth within a day of this observation a coincidence?

Should we be be out watching the sky when Apophis passes?

Brian

For some reason the Python link didn't work for me so I did a

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_quer...+monty+python=1

and chose the second option.

I hope it works or I shall taunt you a second time you son of a window dresser!

Some years back we owned an old dog. It became very sick during the evening before a major holiday. No vet could be found. It died a terrible death on our living room floor - there was nothing we could do. Your right Stu. Putting your pet down was a great kindness. You did good.

Brian

Clarin and Duero beaches are nice white sand beaches in the Philippenes. That's all I can come up with.

Brian


Edit: Clarin and Duero beaches are on Bohol Island - one of the first places visited by the Magellan expedition. History says they did not recieve a friendly welcome and the ship Concepcion was burned here.

The latest oppy status update from http://marsrovers.nasa.gov .

The rover has done an MI and APXS of 2 targets; "Clarin Beach" and "Duero Beach".
The odd partial repeat pictures from sol 2239 are I think due to a routine test of the Mars Express relay they did.

I would look up some details of those beach names but it's 3 AM and I'm out of beer. Hope you understand.

Brian

That made me cry. Wow.

You guys put so much work into this forum. I am not worthy. Thank you.

Brian

I would think an RTG would release quite a bit of heat.

The wikipedia entry for RTG's quite interesting. They are not very efficient so to generate 300 watts I'm thinking WARM! They say in the USSR they had some remote lighthouses powered by RTG's. One winter night some people found one of these and gathered around it for warmth.

They also say the radiation degrades the materials that convert heat to electricity so maybe they keep them separate until shortly before launch.

Brian

According to marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov, Odyssey went into safe mode on july 14. The reason - an encoder controlling a gimbal that moves the solar array didn't perform correctly. A redundant encoder was switched in and the gimbal itself performed well. Full opps should resume this week. YAAAY!!

Brian

Just to toss in my 2 cents worth, when I look at cape york from above, I see the black hills of south dakota. They're a bit of old eroded mountain range complete with a "race track" of the spearfish formation forming a perifery around it. It's what a billion years of differential erosion will do. I know this is a crater rim but the same processes would apply. Any assymetries could be due to wind differences or the way the original crater rim was blasted out.

That cleft at the top is really interesting though!!

There is a nice interview of a spacex official on spaceflightnow.com where they discuss some of the problems the falcon 9 had during launch. The roll the rocket had right off the launch pad was caused by torque induced by gasses swirling out of the nozzles and turbopump exhaust exiting at an angle. It takes some time for the nozzles to move over and compensate.

You really have give Elon Musk applause for this. He can't be much more "all in" with spacex and he pulled this off. This is a BIG deal!

As for the ufo, if it was the falcon 9 stage 2, they might want to induce a tumble with vented propellant to help with reentry breakup.

What really caught my eye was the about 90 degree role the vehicle performed right off the launch pad. It seemed to almost yank an umbilical off sideways!

Yes it is. I wonder how that chunk of rock fell off onto it's side. Then I look around the outcrop and wonder if their isn't a softer layer in it where "debonding" occurs. I see a strata eroded into the rock.

WOW! The 3d treatment really brings out the detail, and the man made stuff sticks up at ya. Great stuff.

I'm really loving this thread, but for some reason I find comfort knowing that theories are just usefull tools we humans use to figure out how stuff works. They don't always need to be spot on correct.

The latest from JAXA's Hayabusa web site. Hayabusa's trajectory is now inside the moon's orbit. Thrusting will be stopped in early march to more accurately determine its trajectory. The thrustor was still working well!

Rock On!

Several years ago I sent an e-mail to JAXA congratulating them on the asteroid landing, and got a very nice reply. Even if the return capsule has no asteroid dust, this was a great adventure.

I'm almost frightened to read this thread now. I fear reading that the last engine has failed and it won't reach earth!!!

GO HAYABUSA!!!!!!!!!

Sorry you lost those reports. Science News lost a lot when he left. I Think I still have some of those issues.

We are so spoiled getting almost real time pictures from space.

Brian

Now That was completely different!

Fantastic!

I can't believe i have never seen a surveyor from below before! Thanks for the picture.

That SRM was a good hunk of the total volume and mass of the package, and it could have made some kind of splat.

The next time nasa has a vehicle naming contest, let' all vote STARDUSTER!

Brian

That was amazing - almost even sounded like the real thing when played at 1/10 speed!

As a kid I bought a very small estes rocket and put a way too big engine in it and poof 1 second it's sitting there, the next it's gone. I never found it but a guy 1/4 mile away heard a woosh go past him!